WP: London Mayor Lashes U.S. Ambassador as a 'Crook'

London Mayor Lashes U.S. Ambassador as a 'Crook'
U.S. Refusal to Pay Quarter-Million Dollars in Car Fees Prompts New Outburst From Livingstone
By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, March 29, 2006; Page A13

LONDON, March 28 -- The mayor of London considered the virtues of the U.S. ambassador to Britain: "A chiseling little crook," Ken Livingstone concluded of Robert Holmes Tuttle on Monday, further dismissing the colonials' latest representative to Her Majesty's realm as a "car salesman."

Even by Livingstone's colorful standards -- he recently likened a Jewish newspaper reporter to a concentration camp guard -- splashing such verbal mud on Tuttle caused a flurry of amusement, embarrassment and tut-tuting among the British. He is a noted friend of President Bush and, it must be said, a purveyor of automobiles.

At issue is the U.S. government's refusal to pay more than a quarter of a million dollars in traffic congestion fees charged to cars that enter central London. The fees are a tax, the embassy says, and under international law, embassies don't pay taxes.

But Livingstone won't buy that line. "When British troops are putting their lives on the line for American foreign policy," he said Monday, "it would be quite nice if they paid the congestion charge."...

***

Tuttle's family operates one of the largest automobile dealerships in the United States...."This new ambassador is a car salesman and an ally of President Bush. This is clearly a political decision," Livingstone told reporters. On ITV Monday night he said: "It would actually be quite nice if the American ambassador in Britain could pay the charge that everybody else is paying and not actually try and skive out of it like some chiseling little crook."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/28/AR2006032800796.html

though I think it is a case of British understatement.

(sometimes I recall incorrectly) that 'user fees' are not considered 'a tax' by U.S. government agencies that levy them to U.S. citizens.

"The fees are a tax, the embassy says..."

Not sure what Britain calls their "traffic congestion fees" and whether they are considered a 'user fee' or not. Seems like they might be.

I see them as equivalent to the tolls you pay to drive into Manhattan. They were meant to discourage people from driving into London, and cut down on London traffic.

I'm truly sorry for my asshole Bushian friend,
and the whole affair with the unpaid fees down south,
he's got an imperial fantasy on the mend,
and needn't be disturbed whatever righteous blabbermouth.

Leave them in their fantasy, overrated superpower,
then the keys to the benz he'll give thee,
and whever bullshit you have to tolerate, empower,
people, stick a sock in it, and say nothing, apologetically.

Let the condescending final representatives of that bankrupt clan,
run up the diplomatic credit card up so easily,
then when the next good guys get back in to power, you can,
ask any favour for being such a face saving friend so graciously.
Sorry for this period of assholes so blunt,
we'll make it up to you, please take no affront.

Erm, no.